Glad that's over

I made a successfull trip to the mall. I guess it was worth it since I found a much better bottle of olive oil than they had listed on the net. The selection wasn't great but I snagged one of the last two of an estate bottled from Tuscany. I ended up buying the same vinegar I would have on line though. That was really the only good choice. Gotta love the south. This store had a third of its copious aisles devoted to candy and other sweets but only two Italian vinegars. It's times like these I miss being able to walk up to the Coffee Gallery in Noho and pick out something great.

Nonetheless, I'm not unhappy with the vinegar I got. It's sufficiently aged and it comes in a cute little round bottle that looks sort of like a Christmas ornament and they actually had a good selection of Italian pastas so I was able to add a festive fusilli bucati from Abruzzi to the gift.

It was a long checkout line and the clerks were kind of goofy from exhaustion I think. Two kids to a register so they weren't so harried but one of mine managed to knock down some ceramic thing on the register and break it at my feet. There were two packages of real mistletoe in the crock.

I almost bought one but the stuff is poisonous and I don't want to have it around the tyke so I can't make a kissing ball for the kids with real stuff. Making one for myself doesn't make a lot of sense when I don't get company. I rarely go out so I've barely met a soul here. I certainly don't know anyone well enough to invite them over. It seems a bit unlikely anyone will be kissing me this year. But I digress.

Didn't work out so well with the ornaments. The ones in the Southern Season were just awful and they didn't have any angels. I walked the whole blessed mall but ended up buying them in the freaking Hallmark store. It was still okay I guess. I'm not thrilled with the mass produced angel, but it's not so bad, at least it's ceramic and I got a little Pooh flying away with balloons along with a Tigger flying away with Piglet for the tyke. The theme will work even though I don't love resin ornaments. I'd like something a bit more unique for our first Christmas together here. I'll try in the one gift store in town tomorrow. Or the art gallery may have something. Besides, I'd like a bottle of good Porto for the holiday and the wine shop is the best in the Triangle.

That is if my car still works. It's doing the stupid stalling thing again, where it dies while I'm driving down the road. It seems to happen when the car is hot and I'm going slow. I've heard this car is notorious for starting problems and I guess it's true. It was almost exactly a year ago when it developed the same disorder. One hopes that it will stay true to form and let me drive it for 20 minutes or less around town without stalling until after the holidays. Then I'll bring it up to that guy that fixed it the last time I guess.

I have to make a serious decision on whether to fix it or get another car though. I can't really afford another car but in a way I can't afford not to get one. The old Ford is 11 years old now. But I hate buying a new car or rather I hate shopping for one. I'm not so good at major life choices.